How to Manage Stakeholders like a Pro

Success in project management is meeting agreed to objectives. But what happens when you have different levels of leadership, thinking their portion is the most important criteria to success? This is why stakeholder management is so important. You need to understand the concerns and criteria for each stakeholder and develop a plan to address them.

What is a stakeholder?

But before we dive into managing stakeholders, it might be helpful to clearly define what a stakeholder is. Generally speaking, anyone who can have an influence on project outcomes can be considered a stakeholder. This can be through providing access to capital, as well as resources to make the project a success. Stakeholders are the people most invested in what you’re doing, and they can exist within your company as well as outside of it. 

For example, let’s say I was leading a project to build wind turbines in the ocean. Apart from managing stakeholder relationships within the company I work for, there are other stakeholder relationships in the community that need just as much care and attention. 

If we build them off the coast, the fishermen’s union could be a potential roadblock. They’ll be concerned about how the wind turbine will affect their fishing area. Will the fish even swim in this zone once the turbine is running? With their livelihood at stake, there’s a chance that they could prevent the project from even happening. As such, the relationship is just as valuable as the one with the CEO of your company overseeing the project. 

When it comes to stakeholders within your company, it’s safe to assume that anyone above you that’s concerned with the project’s success can be considered a stakeholder. On very large projects I’ve completed before, the vice presidents and CEOs themselves could be considered stakeholders. The neighbors next to the area where you’ll build your new plant are also stakeholders, and local government officials as well. 

How to manage stakeholders

If you have a project, it can feel very overwhelming when a lot of stakeholders have different opinions during the execution of a project. One person might think that being cost-efficient is the most important thing, while another might be more concerned with being energy efficient or getting the project completed as quickly as possible. 

It’s your job to not only make every stakeholder feel heard but to get them to buy in on the action you ultimately decide to proceed with. 

You can achieve this by creating a plan to manage expectations and the foundation of this plan is regular communication with stakeholders. This can be through group meetings as well as one-on-one conversations. You want to make sure that you listen to their concerns, address them, and get them to buy into the course of action you’ve decided on.

Creating a stakeholder engagement plan

If you don’t map out your engagement strategy with stakeholders, you risk letting someone fall through the cracks. This is where a stakeholder engagement plan comes in.

Create a spreadsheet that lists all your stakeholders, the frequency with which you’re going to contact them, how you’ll contact them, and what type of information you’ll provide to them. 

Some conversations will be more detailed than others. If you’re speaking with your boss, for example, the subject matter might be more granular, like describing in detail technical issues that have come up, people challenges that are ongoing, or items that are needed for team building. 

You’ll also communicate at different cadences with stakeholders. The Vice President,  CEO, and the governing regulatory agency should be updated monthly. While the project manager, the team lead should be updated weekly.

Then the means of communication should also be tracked. Does this person prefer to communicate over the phone? On Zoom? In-person? Or would a group meeting be more beneficial for the type of information being presented?

At the end of the day, everyone should feel like they’re on the ride with you. It’s not a good sign if someone doesn’t know what’s going on with your project. If you create a well-thought-out stakeholder engagement plan and stick to it, the chances of your project becoming a success are much greater than without one.

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